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[CNJRoss]

AP via FOX Business News, 9/11:

 

Federal judge allows Swinomish tribal lawsuit over oil trains to proceed against BNSF

 

SEATTLE –  A federal judge is allowing a lawsuit by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community to proceed against BNSF Railway over oil train shipments.

 

The tribe sued BNSF in April, alleging the company is violating an agreement that restricts the number of trains that can cross its reservation on Fidalgo Island.

 

U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik on Friday denied BNSF's request to have the case dismissed or stayed. The railway argued the matter should go before the federal Surface Transportation Board. The judge wrote that referring the case is "neither efficient nor necessary."

 

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[CNJRoss]

KGMI AM & FM, Bellingham, WA 3/23/23

Civil trial begins over BNSF tracks on Swinomish tribal land

 

ANACORTES, Wash. – Just days after a train derailed near the Swinomish Casino, a civil trial has begun in federal court in which the tribe accuses BNSF of willfully violating an agreement over trains running through tribal land.

 

An agreement that the railroad signed with the tribe allows just one eastbound and one westbound train of 25 cars or less each day.

 

 

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Related:  BNSF Derails Near Seattle, Dumping Diesel Onto Swinomish Reservation

[CNJRoss]

The Seattle (WA) Times, 3/27/23

 

Judge rules BNSF intentionally violated terms of easement with Swinomish tribe

 

BNSF intentionally violated the terms of an easement agreement with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community when the railway company ran 100-car trains carrying crude oil over the reservation, a federal judge ruled Monday.

 

The ruling in the civil case comes after two BNSF engines derailed March 16 on Swinomish land, leaking an estimated 3,100 gallons of diesel near Padilla Bay.

 

BNSF has operated a rail line over the Swinomish Reservation under a 1991 easement agreement that permits trains traveling in each direction to carry no more than 25 cars per day. It also required BNSF to tell the tribe about the “nature and identity of all cargo” transported across the reservation.

 

In a written order Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik said the railway made a unilateral decision in increasing the number of trains and cars crossing the reservation without the tribe’s consent. Lasnik ruled that BNSF “willfully, consciously and knowingly exceeded the limitations on its right of access” from September 2012 to May 2021 “in pursuit of profits.”

 

 

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[CNJRoss]

Trains News Wire

 

Judge rules BNSF oil trains violated tribal agreement

 

March 28, 2023

 

Federal ruling says railroad unilaterally exceeded limits ‘in pursuit of profits’

 

ANACORTES, Wash. — BNSF Railway violated terms of an easement agreement with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community by running 100-car trains of crude oil across the Swinomish reservation in Anacortes for years, a federal judge ruled Monday.

 

The Seattle Times reports that U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik said in a written order Monday that BNSF unilaterally decided to increase the number of trains and cars crossing the reservation, without the tribe’s consent, between September 2012 and May 2021 “in pursuit of profits.” A 1991 agreement allowed trains traveling in each direction to carry no more than 25 cars per day and required the railroad to tell the tribe about the “nature and identity of all cargo.”

 

A second phase of the trial will consider the tribe’s claim for damages.

 

 

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